Lawyers from Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America arrived at Oxford in the United Kingdom this week for the third annual Media Law Advocates Programme. The three week course, organized by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University’s Wolfson College, will coach the 35 media lawyers in the promotion and defense of media freedom. Classes will cover defamation and libel - including pre-publication proofing, responding to threats of suit and in-court defense techniques - as well as licensing, and the internet.

The government media’s timidity in demanding accountability from the ruling party leadership when they publicly make potentially harmful pronouncements was exposed by the manner in which they handled President Robert Mugabe’s closing address at the Fourth ZANU PF National Youth Congress, according to the latest edition of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe's newsletter. "These media merely carried President Mugabe’s speech without analysing it. For instance, The Sunday Mail quoted President Mugabe telling his party youths that they should 'mount a vigorous campaign across the country to push Tony Blair’s midgets out' as ZANU PF 'wanted to teach them a lesson across the whole country that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again'. No attempt was made to disentangle the embedded meaning of such statements."

On 5 July 2004, Cesar Balume Wetemwami, a photojournalist and president of the North Kivu Photographers Association in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested by Rwandan military security agents in the Rwandan city of Gisenyi, which lies on the border with the Congolese city of Goma. Balume was first detained by customs officers as he was crossing into Gisenyi. According to witnesses, the photojournalist was questioned for over two hours at the border station. Following his interrogation, he was handed over to Rwandan soldiers. Balume is being held by military personnel at a secret location.

On 10 July 2004, the Butembo High Court granted Nicaise Kibel-Bel-Oka, publisher and editor of the Beni-based newspaper "Les Coulisses", a temporary release. The journalist had been detained at the Beni central prison for 21 days. Beni is located in North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. On 19 June, a Beni court sentenced Kibel-Bel-Oka to six months in prison and payment of US$5,000 in damages for defamation against Jean-Jacques Kiangu, a high-profile businessman in that part of the country.

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) is an international NGO working on issues of relevance to small-scale and artisanal fisheries and fishworkers, with a special focus on livelihoods concerns. ICSF have recently launched SAMUDRA News Alerts, a free service designed to deliver news on fisheries and related issues, on a daily or weekly digest basis, in plain-text or HTML format. Please visit http://www.icsf.net to subscribe. The ICSF website has archives of all past news items as well as all issues of SAMUDRA Report and several other documents and resources that might interest you.

e-CIVICUS provides fortnightly news on civil society worldwide, news about the organisation and its members and provides links to useful electronic and print resources aimed at strengthening civil society worldwide. To subscribe or unsubscribe, email [email protected]

The ninth edition of International Justice Tribune, the independent newsletter reporting on international criminal justice, is now available on http://www.justicetribune.com/index_uk.htm

"ICC-AFRICA" is a forum that will disseminate information in French and English relating to the ICC and its activities on the African continent. “ICC- AFRICA” will allow activists and international justice and ICC advocates to exchange information on the ICC campaign in Africa. Subscribe to “ICC-AFRICA” by sending a message to: [email protected]

The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) is pleased to announce that it will be organising its first annual "ICTs and Civil Society" conference that is to take place from 2-4 March 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The 24th International Fundraising Congress will be taking place on 12-15th October 2004 at the NH Leeuwenhorst Hotel, the Netherlands. This year's programme boasts up to 60 world-class speakers and it is expected that up to 800 fundraising professionals will attend, providing an excellent opportunity for networking within the sector.

The 11th Eastern African regional fundraising workshop is being organised by the Resource Alliance, in partnership with the Uganda Debt Network, and will take place on 9th-12th November in Entebbe, Uganda. The event will include a series of sessions that address the context of Resource mobilisation in the Region and a wide range of practical skill development workshops.

Linux Solutions, a Uganda-based FOSS (free and open source software) support company has joined forces with SchoolNet Uganda to provide schools in the country with Linux-based thin-client solutions. The technology enables the revival of obsolete hardware, lower running costs and easier maintenance. The director of SchoolNet declared that the technology provides the 'perfect solution' for the roll out of IT to rural schools.

The latest newsletter from Markle confirms that some African countries are still plagued with disproportionately high Internet cafe costs. The report states that 'whilst often heralded as a simple route online, the cost of one hour of Internet access can wipe out a day's wage.' Of the countries sampled in Africa, Nigeria is the worst hit, with the average hour of access costing $5.40. Only Sweden and Austria are higher ($6.45 and $6.00 respectively). The report also reveals a large variation in the costs across the continent - Ghana's average is the lowest at $0.60.

On 9 July 2004, police in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, southern Nigeria, arrested and detained two news magazine reporters, Lawson Heyford of "The Source" and Okafor Ofiebor of "The News". The journalists were arrested for their alleged association with a man identified as Pastor Joe Alatoru, who had accused two senior police officers of taking bribes from him. Alatoru was also arrested by police.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) will hold a five day ICT policy advocacy workshop in Nairobi from 19th - 23rd July. The workshop intends to galvinise the growing interest there is in ICT policy into a network of policy advocates working in their home countries. It will be the first of two regional ICT policy advocacy workshops, the second being held in Dakar, Senegal later this year. "Through the workshop, we hope to kick start concerted policy actions at the national level," says APC executive director, Anriette Esterhuysen. "There's a lot of interest and concern and a lot of expertise out there but not enough collaborative action. We want to do more than just build capacity."

"Lwati" is an isiSwati word meaning information, and this monthly e-newsletter will be used to reflect on completed SANGONeT activities and projects, as well as to highlight and profile new, planned and forthcoming activities and events in line with SANGONeT's four programme areas.

The Resource Alliance will be hosting a fundraising workshop in Uganda in November 2004, in partnership with the Uganda Debt Network. The workshop will address the context of Resource Mobilisation in the region, a wide range of practical skill development workshops, and a series of interactive sessions to address challenges and opportunities in the area of resource mobilisation.

More than half of Africa’s youth and adults do not have basic literacy skills and/or have not completed primary or secondary school. It is deeply concerning how little serious attention has been paid to the potential ways in which ICT can enhance such skills, as part of a pro-poor model of ICT for Development (ICT4D). Such work is crucial if the goals of Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are to be achieved.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested heavy sentences upheld on appeal against six Internet users in the southern city of Zarzis. The six were accused of using the Internet to plot terrorist attacks. Their 19-years-and-three-month sentences were reduced on appeal to 13 years' imprisonment. The convictions were based entirely on confessions extracted under duress and not supported by any real evidence, according to RSF, which expects a higher court of appeal to overturn the sentences.

On 8 July 2004, police in Kano State, northwestern Nigeria, released Kola Oyelere, the Kano State correspondent for the privately-owned "Nigerian Tribune" newspaper. Oyelere was arrested by police on 4 July on charges of publishing false information.